2 March 2008

Post #35:  Buskett

Sunday, we went up to the Bible Baptist Church on the hill near here.  It was a compelling sermon, and as always the kids had a blast at Sunday school there. Jenny, the Sunday school teacher, and wife to one of the pastors, really enjoys the kids as well. What a blessing it is to hear our kids behaved well!

After we had a nice brunch of French toast, prepared wonderfully by Dave, we packed up for another day out. We drove to Buskett, and the “Woodlands.” This is an amazing place, near the Dingli cliffs. It is a largely wooded valley with castles on either end of it. We felt like we were hiking through Narnia (See C.S. Lewis). Some of the walkways we tread on were clearly ancient paths between the castles, and sections of it were clearly former courtyards. There were also orange and lemon groves between some of the trails. Again, it was a little cool, and looked like rain near the end of our hike, so we'll have to go back on a nice, sunny day.

At the trailhead, there is a restaurant, and on Sundays they have big, inflated, play areas for the kids down in an old outdoor theatre area, so our kids enjoyed that a great deal. However, at one point, Addison came up the steps to the balcony where Dave and I were sitting, watching them, and he was in tears, saying that a bully grabbed his fingers and bent them backward. I told him to show me which boy it was.

When I got down to the play area, Addison pointed out a boy with blond streaks in his dark brown hair. He was sitting outside the inflated fun-house, so I just stood watch. The kids went in and were jumping, when the mean boy and his thug friends climbed back in. As they entered, David (4) yelled, “Ahh, let's get out! The mean boys are coming in!” I said in a firm voice, “That's okay David, you can stay in there; anyone touches my kids, I'll kick their butt!” I said this while looking the mean boy right in the eye. He actually looked scared!

Then our kids started giggling, and I said, “Hey, don't laugh, just play. We're not laughing at anyone, just making sure everyone has fun.” Then the mean boy started laughing and mockingly saying “kick yer butt” and his friends imitated him. Soon they were all laughing. We didn't have any bullying after that. I don't know how I could have looked all that intimidating with Bobby strapped on my front. But hey, I'm glad they responded well, 'cause I'm not really sure how the butt-kicking would have gone!

We contemplated dining at the restaurant there, but I wasn't confident, since there was only one guy seen the whole time, and he spoke very little English, and was stationed behind the bar, showing little interest in speaking to anyone. We asked a young couple that was sitting near us on the balcony what they'd recommend, and they suggested we go to Mdina, which is only 1.5 Km down the road. So we packed up and headed off after Dave chatted with this nice young couple for fifteen minutes.

By the time we made it to Mdina, Nathan was about to pass out, having had no nap, and I was ready to join him, so I voted down the whole idea of taking the gang into a restaurant. We ended up coming home and eating leftovers instead. We watched Air-Bud after dinner, and headed off to bed. All that wonderful, fresh country air sure makes you tired.

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